And pray, Mr Hawkesley, what success have _you_ met with in Cupid's warfare?"

"None whatever, sir," I replied with a laugh. "The only other lady in Don Manuel's household was old Dolores, Dona Antonia's attendant, and I was positively afraid to try the effect of my fascinations upon her."

"Lest you should prove only _too_ successful," laughed the skipper. "By the way, Smellie, do you think this Don Manuel was quite plain and above-board with you? I suppose _he_ does nothing in the slave-trading business, eh?"

"I think not, sir; though he undoubtedly possesses the acquaintance of a certain Senor Madera, a most suspicious-looking character, whose name I have already mentioned to you--by the way, Hawkesley, you were evidently mistaken as to the _Josefa_ belonging to Madera; he was nowhere to be found on board her."

"What is it, Mr Armitage?" said the skipper just then, as the third lieutenant made his appearance at the door.

"A vessel, apparently a brig, sir, has just come into view under the northern sh.o.r.e, evidently having just left the river. She is hugging the land very closely, keeping well under its shadow, in fact, and has all the appearance of being anxious to avoid attracting our attention."

The skipper glanced interrogatively at Smellie, who at once responded to the look by saying:

"The _Black Venus_, without doubt. I expect that our running away with the _Josefa_ has given them the alarm, and they have determined to slip out whilst the option remains to them, and take their chance of being able to give us the slip."

"They shall not do that if I can help it," remarked the skipper energetically; and, rising to his feet, he gave orders for all hands to be called forthwith. This broke up the party in the cabin, much to the gratification of Burnett, who now insisted that both Smellie and I should retire to our hammocks forthwith, and on no account presume to leave them again until we had his permission.

I was not very long in undressing, having secured the services of a marine to a.s.sist me in the operation; but before I had gained my hammock I was rejoined by Keene, a brother mid, whose watch it was below, and who brought me down the news that the sloop was under weigh and fairly after the stranger, who, as soon as our canvas dropped from the yards, had squared away on a westerly course with the wind on her quarter and a whole cloud of studding-sails set to windward.

What with the excitement of finding myself once more among so many friends and the pain of my wound it was some time before I succeeded in getting to sleep that night; and before I did so the _Daphne_ was rolling like an empty hogshead, showing how rapidly she had run off the land and into the sea knocked up by the gale.

When I awoke next morning the wind had dropped to a considerable extent, the sea had gone down, and the ship was a great deal steadier under her canvas. I was most anxious to leave my hammock and go on deck, but this Burnett would not for a moment consent to; my wound was very much inflamed and exceedingly painful, the result, doubtless, of the probing for the bullet on the night before; and instead of being allowed to turn out I was removed in my hammock, just as I was, to the sick bay. I was ordered to keep very quiet, but I managed to learn, nevertheless, that the chase was still in sight directly ahead, about nine miles distant, and that, though she certainly was not running away from us, there seemed to be little hope of our overtaking her for some time to come.

Matters remained in this unsatisfactory state for the next five days, the _Daphne_ keeping the chase in sight during the whole of that time, but failing to come up with her. The distance between the two vessels varied according to the weather, the chase appearing to have the best of it in a strong breeze, whilst the _Daphne_ was slightly the faster of the two in light airs. Unfortunately for us, the wind continued very nearly dead fair, or about three points on our starboard quarter, whereas the sloop seemed to do best with the wind abeam. We would not have objected even to a moderate breeze dead in our teeth, our craft being remarkably fast on a taut bowline; and as day after day went by without any apparent prospect of an end of the chase the barometer was anxiously watched, in the hope that before long we should be favoured with a change of weather.

On the morning of the fifth day I was so much better that, acceding to my urgent request, Burnett consented, with many doubtful shakes of the head, to my leaving my hammock and taking the air on deck for an hour or two. I accordingly dressed as rapidly as possible, and got on deck just in time to catch sight of the chase, about six miles distant, before a sea mist settled down on the scene, which soon effectually concealed her from our view. This was particularly exasperating, since, the wind having dropped to about a five-knot breeze, we had been slowly but perceptibly gaining on her for the last three or four hours; and now, when at length there appeared a prospect of overtaking her, a chance to elude us in the fog had presented itself. Of course it was utterly impossible to guess what ruse so wary a foe would resort to, but that he would have recourse to one of some kind was a moral certainty. Captain Vernon at once took counsel with his first and second lieutenants as to what course it would be most advisable to adopt under the circ.u.mstances, and it was at last decided to put the ship upon a wind, and make short tacks to the eastward until the fog should clear, it being thought highly probable that the chase would likewise double back upon her former course in the hope of our running past her in the fog.

The studding-sails were accordingly taken in, and the ship brought to the wind on the starboard tack. We made short reaches, tacking every hour, and had gone about for the third time when, just as the men were coiling up the ropes fore and aft, the look-out reported:

"Sail, ho! straight ahead. Hard up, sir, or you will be into her."

Mr Austin, who had charge of the deck, sprang upon a gun, and peered out eagerly ahead.

"Hard over, my man, _hard_ over!" he exclaimed excitedly; then continued, after a moment of breathless suspense:

"All clear, all clear! we have _just_ missed her, and that is all. By Jove, Hawkesley, that was a narrow squeak, eh? Why, it is surely the _Vestale_! _Vestale_ ahoy!"

"Hillo!" was the response from the other craft, indubitably the brig which we had fallen in with shortly after our first look into the Congo, and which we had been given to understand was the _Vestale_, French gun- brig.

"Have you sighted a sail of any kind to-day?" hailed Austin.

"Non, mon Dieu! We have not nevaire seen a sail until now since we leave Sierra Leone four weeks ago."

This ended the communication between the two ships, the _Vestale_--or whatever she was--disappearing again into the fog before the last words of the reply to our question had been uttered.

"Well," said Mr Austin, as he jumped down off the gun, "I am disappointed. When I first caught sight of that craft close under our bows I thought for a moment that we had made a clever guess; that the chase had doubled on her track, and that, by a lucky accident, we had stumbled fairly upon her in the fog. But as soon as I caught sight of the white figure-head and the streak round her sides I saw that I was mistaken. Well, we _may_ drop upon the fellow yet. I would give a ten- pound note this instant if the fog would only lift."

"I cannot understand it for the life of me," I replied in a dazed sort of way, as I stepped gingerly down off the gun upon which I, like the first lieutenant, had jumped in the first of the excitement.

Mr Austin looked at me questioningly.

"What is it that you cannot understand, Hawkesley?" he asked.

"That brig--the _Vestale_, as she calls herself--and all connected with her," I answered.

"Why, what _is_ there to understand about her? Or rather, what is there that is incomprehensible about her?" he asked sharply.

"_Everything_," I replied eagerly. "In the first place, we have only the statement of one man--and he a member of her own crew--that she actually _is_ the veritable _Vestale_, French gun-brig, which we know to be cruising in these waters. Secondly, her very extraordinary resemblance to the _Black Venus_, which, as you are aware, I have seen, absolutely _compels_ me, against my better judgment, to the belief that the two brigs are, in some mysterious way, intimately a.s.sociated together, if, indeed, they are not absolutely _one and the same vessel_.

And thirdly, my suspicion that the latter is the case receives strong confirmation from the fact that on _both_ occasions when we have been after the one--the _Black Venus_--we have encountered the other--the _Vestale_."

Mr Austin stared at me in a very peculiar way for a few minutes, and then said:

"Well, Hawkesley, your last a.s.sertion is undoubtedly true; but what does it prove? It can be nothing more than a curious coincidence."

"So I have a.s.sured myself over and over again, when my suspicions were strengthened by the first occurrence of the coincidence; and so I shall doubtless a.s.sure myself over and over again during the next few days," I replied. "But if a coincidence only it is certainly curious that it should have occurred on two occasions."

"I am not quite prepared to admit that," said the first lieutenant.

"And, then, as to the remarkable resemblance between the two vessels, do you not think, now, honestly, Hawkesley, that your very extraordinary suspicions may have magnified that resemblance?"

"No," said I; "I do not. I only wish Mr Smellie had been on deck just now to have caught a glimpse of that inexplicable brig; he would have borne convincing testimony to the marvellous likeness between them.

Why, sir, but for the white ribbon round the one, and the difference in the figure-heads, the two craft would be positively indistinguishable; so completely so, indeed, that poor Richards was actually unable to believe the evidence of his own senses, and, I firmly believe, was convinced of the ident.i.ty of the two vessels."

"Indeed!" said Mr Austin in a tone of great surprise. "That is news to me. So Richards shared your suspicions, did he?"

"He did, indeed, sir," I replied. "It was, in fact, his extraordinary demeanour on the occasion of our second encounter with the _Vestale_-- you will remember the circ.u.mstance, sir?--which confirmed my suspicions; suspicions which, up to then, I had attributed solely to some aberration of fancy on my part. Then, again, when we questioned the skipper of the _Pensacola_ relative to the _Black Venus_ and the _Vestale_, how evasive were his replies!"

"Look here, Hawkesley; you have interested me in spite of myself," said Mr Austin. "If you are not too tired I should like you to tell me the whole history of these singular suspicions of yours from the very moment of their birth."

"I will, sir, with pleasure. They arose with Monsieur Le Breton's visit to us on the occasion of our first falling in with the _Vestale_," I replied. And then having at last finally broached the subject which had been for so long a secret source of mental disquiet to me, I fully detailed to the first luff all those suspicious circ.u.mstances--trifling in themselves but important when regarded collectively--which I have already confided to the reader. When I had finished he remained silent for a long time, nearly a quarter of an hour I should think, with his hands clasped behind his back and his eyes bent on the deck, evidently cogitating deeply. Finally he emerged from his abstraction with a start, cast an eye aloft at the sails, and then turning to me said:

"You have given me something to think about now with a vengeance, Hawkesley. If indeed your suspicions as to the honesty of the _Vestale_ should prove well-founded, your mention of them and the acute perception which caused you in the first instance to entertain them will const.i.tute a very valuable service--for which I will take care that you get full credit--and may very possibly lead to the final detection and suppression of a series of hitherto utterly unaccountable transactions of a most nefarious character. At all events we can do no harm by keeping a wary eye upon this alleged _Vestale_ for the future, and I will make it my business to invent some plausible pretext for boarding her on the first opportunity which presents itself. And now I think you have been on deck quite as long as is good for you, so away you go below again and get back to your hammock. Such a wound as yours is not to be trifled with in this abominable climate; and you know,"--with a smile half good-humoured and half satirical--"we must take every possible care of a young gentleman who seems destined to teach us, from the captain downwards, our business. There, now, don't look hurt, my lad; you did quite right in speaking to me, and I am very much obliged to you for so doing; I only regret that you did not earlier make me your confidant.

Now away you go below at once."

I of course did dutifully as I was bidden, and, truth to tell, was by no means sorry to regain my hammock, having soon found that my strength was by no means as great as I had expected. That same night I suffered from a considerable accession of fever, and in fine was confined to my hammock for rather more than three weeks from that date, at the end of which I became once more convalescent, and--this time observing proper precautions and a strict adherence to the doctor's orders--finally managed to get myself reported as once more fit for duty six weeks from the day on which Smellie and I rejoined the _Daphne_. I may as well here mention that the fog which so inopportunely enveloped us on the day of my conversation with Mr Austin did not clear away until just before sunset; and when it did the horizon was clear all round us, no trace of a sail being visible in any direction from our main-royal yard.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

A VERY MYSTERIOUS OCCURRENCE.

In extreme disgust at the loss of the notorious _Black Venus_ Captain Vernon reluctantly gave orders for the resumption of the cruise, and the _Daphne_ was once more headed in for the land, it being the skipper's intention to give a look in at all the likely places along the coast as far north as the Bight of Benin.

This was terribly tedious and particularly trying to the men, it being all boat work. The exploration of the Fernan Vas river occupied thirty hours, whilst in the case of the Ogowe river the boats were away from the ship for four days and three nights; the result being that when at last we went into Sierra Leone we had ten men down with fever, and had lost four more from the same cause. The worst of it all was that our labour had been wholly in vain, not a single prize being taken nor a suspicious craft fallen in with. Here we found Williams and the prize crew of the _Josefa_ awaiting us according to instructions; so shipping them and landing the sick men Captain Vernon lost no time in putting to sea once more.

On leaving Sierra Leone a course was shaped for the Congo, and after a long and very tedious pa.s.sage, during the whole of which we had to contend against light head-winds, we found ourselves once more within sight of the river at daybreak.

It was stark calm, with a cloudless sky, and a long lazy swell came creeping in from the southward and eastward causing the sloop to roll most uncomfortably. We were about twelve miles off the land; and at about half-way between us and it, becalmed like ourselves, there lay a brig, which our telescopes informed us was the _Vestale_. On this fact being decisively ascertained Mr Austin came up to me and said: